A friend calls, wondering: "Is that John Denver singing `Good Morning Starshine' on that Burger King advertisement? My wife thinks so, and I don't," he says.
We hate to cloud the sunshine on her shoulders, but that's few-hit-wonder Oliver (his other big late-'60s success was "Jean"). Who'd have thought a ballad from the musical "Hair" would be seen as perfect music to promote - a Cros'sandwich!?You can, however, catch a Denver tune on the TV airwaves (or satellite beam or cable cord), though not performed by him. A guy walks into a bar, orders a beer and begins singing "Rocky Mountain High" (a 1973 top-10 hit) - and after a few measures, everyone in the room joins in. A hint, perhaps, at how immersed we all are in the music of eras past.
See which of the following you've caught lately while channel surfing - and how many we haven't noticed that you will for many a day hereafter:
- Bang A Gong. (T. Rex, 1972; Power Station, 1985.) Cable station TNT gets it on to summon viewers to broadcasts of the NBA playoffs.
- The "Batman" Theme. (Popularized by the Marketts and the Ventures, 1966.) A campy visual montage promoting the Sentra as part of Nissan's often-surreal TV marketing campaign.
- Brown Sugar. (The Rolling Stones, 1971.) A band covers the Rolling Stones' tune, selling Kahlua Mud Slide, what else?
- Danger Zone. (Kenny Loggins, 1986.) A Top Gun pigeon squadron - led by a feathered daredevil with the voice of John Ratzenberger - takes aim at a spotless Nissan. "Ehhh, mayday! Mayday!"
- Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! Well, actually it's the melody from Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours," but a lad is writing a letter from "camp" (in the backyard), obviously recalling Allan Sherman's 1963 comedy hit, when Mom drops by with Campbell's Tomato Soup.
- Don't Fence Me In. An old Gene Autry favorite, used with special effects for a Mercedes-Benz ad.
- Falling in Love Again. Marlene Dietrich's ageless classic, showing Mercedes-Benz's transformations through the decades, documentary-style.
- Get Together. (Jesse Colin Young and the Youngbloods, 1967 and 1969.) Deliverymen for Coke and Pepsi stop by a diner and share their rival products in this Christmastime ad. When the Coke guy refuses to return an open can of Pepsi, the peaceful meeting turns ugly.
- Good Lovin'. (The Young Rascals, 1966.) Revised to promote "that good, soft feeling" from "Mr. M.D." - MD tissue.
- I'll Take You There. (The Staple Singers, 1972.) At least, that's what Chevy wants the Malibu to do for you.
- Jamming. A Bob Marley & the Wailers favorite that has those animated frogs ("Bud" . . . "Weis" . . . "Er"), atop a congenial 'gator strolling into and groovin' out of a swampland tavern.
- Mama Said. (The Shirelles, 1961.) "Did you forget everything your mother told you?" Pepto-Bismol wonders.
- Sleep Walk. (Santo & Johnny, 1959.) A soothing ad for Naturalizer Shoes (and previously used by a cruise line).
- Stayin' Alive. (The Bee Gees, 1978.) "Engineers" in spacey pastel suits, disco-struttin' on behalf of Intel's Pentium chip.
- Tainted Love. (Soft Cell, 1982.) Sung by a room full of doctors and nurses in surgery to the beat of a respirator and heart monitor - in a Levi's ad!
- Thank Heaven For Little Girls. (Maurice Chevalier, in the 1958 movie "Gigi.") Mountain Dew gives the old semi-standard a punkish riot grrrl edge.
- The Thrill Is Gone/The Sign. (B.B. King, 1970/Ace of Base, 1994). B.B. as a woeful hound - then the Swedish phenoms as parrots, as Texaco does a makeover on an old gas station.
- Venus. (Shocking Blue, 1970; Bananarama, 1986.) Toyota changes the peppy song's chorus of "you got it" to "we got it" to sell 4-Runners.
- Walkin' After Midnight. (Patsy Cline, 1957.) In an AT&T ad, two teens stay up after a date to correspond via computer. The song fits the hour - but will 16-year-olds identify with a No. 12 song from 40 years ago?
- Walk on the Wild Side. (Lou Reed, 1973.) The Discovery Channel craftily uses the song's "doo da-doo/da-doo/dadoodoodoo" chorus to plug its nature programming.
- Wipe Out. (The Surfaris, 1963.) Not surprisingly, hanging 10 with Starburst Fruit Chews.